Initial thoughts from Broncos’ 19-8 loss to Kansas City in Week 6 at GEHA Field:
1. Sorry, Jerry. Steve Smith was right. Sean Payton has still never been shut out as an NFL coach. So there’s that. (Cue the golf claps.) But the Broncos’ first 17 pass plays of the evening also netted 31 yards. And the clock management? Yikes. This one felt funky right from the start. After clapping back at NFL Network analyst Steve Smith, causing Smith during the pregame to call the 2020 first-round pick a “tier 3” wide receiver, Broncos wideout Jerry Jeudy responded to the challenge by … catching three balls for 14 yards on five targets. Smith was right on the money, and Jeudy knows it. The truth hurts. And it hurts even more when it’s coming from one of the best at his position for a generation.
2. Andy Reid messed around … and didn’t find out. Credit where it’s due — “off” coverage aside, Vance Joseph’s defense, in a flip of recent scripts, made the Chiefs work for it much of the night. And yet … what the hey, Andy Reid? A tush-push on a fake field goal? (Didn’t work.) A zone-read in the backfield by wideout Kadarius Toney? (Didn’t work.) A tight-end sneak? (Didn’t work.) If you want to speculate that the Chiefs coach was just treating the one-win Broncos like a scrimmage opponent to try out gimmick plays against a live defense, we won’t argue.
3. First half made history, just not in a good way. Hey, at least it felt different, right? After Broncos Country was forced to watch the Orange and Blue’s defense stink it up for a month, this time, it was the offense’s turn to drop a stinker. Payton’s “attack” produced the first scoreless Broncos first half since Week 7 of 2021, a span of 722 days. The last time it happened? Oct. 21, 2021 — also a Thursday night game, this one at Cleveland. Remember? The Broncos trailed 10-0 in northern Ohio at the halftime break, en route to a 17-14 defeat at the hands of ex-Denver QB Case Keenum. The Broncos’ goose egg through three quarters was a franchise first since November 2017 at Oakland. Good times!
4. Where’s Taylor Swift? If America thought they’d see a lot of America’s sweetheart, Taylor Swift, Amazon’s production crew, like the Broncos’ offense, disappointed in the first half. From 6:15 through 7:45 p.m. Denver time — kickoff through halftime — the pop star and reported new gal pal of Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce was shown only four times and mentioned just three during the telecast. And all of that despite Kelce notching a game-high seven catches for 109 yards receiving in the first half. Boo! (We also counted just one commercial featuring Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders during that 90-minute stretch.)
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